It can be difficult to know when the right time to end a TV show is — some stretch on for seasons past their prime, while others are cut short far too soon. The creators of Cobra Kai seem aware of this, but also don't seem like they're in any hurry to say goodbye to rival karate instructors Johnny Lawrence (William Zabka) and Daniel LaRusso (Ralph Macchio).
Cobra Kai was a fan favorite amongst those who checked out the Karate Kid continuation when it originally premiered as premium YouTube content in 2018, but since officially becoming a Netflix original it's reached new levels of popularity. The fourth season is currently in the works, and in a recent interview with Collider's Christina Radish about the new Hulu comedy Plan B, producers Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg, and Josh Heald explained that in their eyes, Season 4 won't be the last season. That's because they know where they want the show to eventually end — they just don't know how many seasons it'll take to get there right now. However, that could change in the future, and spin-offs are also a possibility.
Do you feel pressured to continue for an extra season or two than you might have originally thought about or expected, or do you have a set end game that has always been your end game?
HURWITZ: We’ve always had a set end game, as to where the story’s going, but we’ve said from the beginning that we weren’t sure exactly how many seasons it’ll take to get there. We found, even in Season 1 when we were in the writers’ room, there were so many ideas that we had that just didn’t fit into those five hours in the first season, so they ended up getting pushed to the next season. There are ideas that we talked about at the beginning of the show, that showed up in Season 3 or will show up in Season 4. And then, there are ideas that just fall by the wayside. There’s no added pressure to elongate the series. We’re still having a blast making it. There’s still a lot more story to tell, in our minds. We just finished shooting Season 4 and we have a lot more that we’re excited to do, going forward. So, we can’t tell you exactly how many seasons we’re going to have, but we know that we’re going to enter each season with enthusiasm and confidence. Eventually, we’ll talk to our friends at Sony and Netflix and say, “We think this is probably around the time we should be winding it down,” and hopefully they’ll give us that time to do it. We’ll see.
Have you thought about any spin-offs or any characters you would like to spin off to focus on, somewhere down the road?
SCHLOSSBERG: The show itself is, in some ways, a spin-off. We’re taking Johnny’s life and his POV. It’s one of those things where we think about it all the time, in some ways. With every character, you think of what their backstory is. When Jon says we don’t know how many more seasons are left of the show, part of it is that we think every character has a lot of story to tell. Is that something that would be a part of the Cobra Kai story, or is it something where somebody deserves their own story? These are all things that we talk about. We love this universe and love the idea of playing with it. Everything is possible.
With Season 4 finished shooting, what can you tease about what we can look forward to with Daniel and Johnny seemingly on the same side now, and finally actually sharing more screen time together?
HEALD: All we can say is that they’ve made the arrangement they’ve made. They know that they’re headed toward this tournament and they know that scores will be settled there. That look they gave each other at the end of Season 3 says it all. We’re leaning in, and these are two guys who have been leaning way away from each other for 30-something years. The big story to tell is, how is that going to go? Will there be growing pains? What will they be like? Will they be able to get over themselves and get over the ax to grind that they both had? And will they be able to achieve that, before the tournament gets here? So, there are lots of new wrenches to throw at them and lots of old grudges to rehash, and it’s all happening in a little bit of a shared space.
SCHLOSSBERG: To circle things back around to Sunny and Lupe and the chemistry that we were talking about, you’ll get a lot more of that than you’ve ever gotten, in Season 4 with Johnny and Daniel, just by the nature of how Season 3 ended, and with that, all the fun that you would think could come with that. So, you’ll see their own chemistry at play.
Cobra Kai Seasons 1-3 are streaming now on Netflix.